Social-ecological barriers and facilitators to seeking inpatient psychiatric care among transgender and nonbinary people: A qualitative descriptive study.

Only 15 English-speaking transgender and nonbinary adults in the United States were interviewed, so the themes may not apply to people outside that setting. The sample was mostly white and under 35, so older adults and people from racially and ethnically marginalized groups were not represented enough to examine intersecting stigma. Recruitment was through convenience sources, so people with very different experiences may not have been reached. The study is cross-sectional and qualitative, so it describes experiences and cannot show why someone did or did not seek care. Participants were asked about admissions in the past 5 years, and interviews happened during the COVID-19 pandemic, so pandemic-related barriers may not have been captured. Recall bias was possible because some participants had multiple admissions and could not separate events, and duration of hospitalization was not asked. Many participants were also sexual minorities but did not describe barriers related to sexual orientation, so those effects were not reported.

The authors reported no conflicts of interest. J.J. was supported by a research apprenticeship program at the University of New Hampshire's Hamel Center for Undergraduate Research, and JDB was supported by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Research under award K01AT012495. The authors said the content is their own and does not necessarily represent the views of the National Institutes of Health.

Do not read this as evidence that any policy or training improves psychiatric care outcomes. It reports 15 people's experiences, not tested interventions.